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Mineral County still digging out from weekend snowstorm
FORT ASHBY, W.Va. — Monday found Mineral County residents and businesses still digging out from the weekend’s 20-plus-inch snowfall, the heaviest the area has seen for several years.
Primary roads around the county were mostly clear, though thick grey slush and patches of snow covered parts of state Routes 28 and 46. County Roads Supervisor Wayne Staggs said crews worked around the clock in 12-hour shifts to clear primary roads and open most secondary roads.
“We just about have all the roads at least open,” Staggs said. “Some of the back roads are narrow, until we can get them plowed back, but they’re open.”
Mineral County Emergency Management called Monday for fire departments and other emergency services personnel to help clear snow from around fire hydrants wherever possible.
That’s an issue in every winter storm because of plows pushing snow onto roadside hydrants, said agency Director Marc Bashoor, but it’s especially problematic with heavy accumulations.
“If you don’t get in and dig those things out, as every thaw and freeze happens the snow becomes a block of ice around the hydrant,” Bashoor said. “I’ve been involved in incidents myself where I had to look for a fire hydrant in the snow and I had citizens help to dig for them.”
Overall, Bashoor said, the county made it through the weekend without any major incidents.
“We had several cases where we had to ask the Department of Highways to do some special plowing of roads that they don’t normally plow. In one particular case it was a medical condition and the individual needed to get to the hospital,” he said. “We also had a couple of ambulances slide off the road and need to be pulled out. Those were probably the major headaches of the weekend.”
Though the worst is over for now, Bashoor said there are things people can do to avoid more problems when the snow starts to melt. He cautioned that people should keep their gutters cleared of snow and ice to prevent meltwater from seeping through rooflines.
People should also make sure to keep sewer grates and drainage pipe openings cleared of ice and debris as much as possible.
“Right now we’re just kind of holding our breath,” he said, “because as this begins to melt, if those grates and pipes aren’t open it’ll create floods.”
The snowfall disrupted what should have been one of the busiest weekends of the year for some county businesses, while others saw increases in sales as people braced for the worst.
On Friday, the Mountaineer Mart convenience store in Short Gap had its best day of gas sales for 2009, as customers fueled up in preparation for the coming storm.
Manager Susan Salonish said the station sells between 800 and 1,000 gallons of regular gas on an average day. On Friday, it sold 1,771 gallons.
“We ran out of gas on Sunday,” she said.
Betty Clites, owner of the Styling Niche II salon near Short Gap, made a rare decision to close when the weather took a turn for the worse.
“The weather Saturday was bad enough that I knew my older clients wouldn’t venture out, and on Saturdays, I get mostly an older clientele,” she said. “I stayed at home and got a few things done to get ready for the holiday.”
Clites said she’s been in business for 30 years, and in her current location at Furnace Acres Plaza since 1991.
“I don’t remember the last time a snow shut us down,” she said. “It must have been 10 or 15 years ago.”
ANW Video, a movie rental store in Fort Ashby, did two days’ worth of business on Friday as people stocked up on indoor entertainment. The store was forced to close Saturday and Sunday because none of its employees could drive to work, according to Manager Dana Pownall.
“I had about 25 inches at my house in Springfield,” Pownall said. “I left for work Saturday and only got one mile down the road.”
Bob Nicklason, manager of the nearby Fort Ashby Dollar General, ran the store alone Saturday because his employees were also snowed in. He left early, at 5 p.m., after his district manager told him to close.
“The biggest problem was the secondary roads,” he said. “Here in Mineral County they did a good job taking care of the primary roads but they weren’t doing anything to the back roads.”
Nicklason said he sold out of rock salt and snow shovels about an hour after opening Saturday morning.
Paula Moreland measured 17 inches of snow at her home about a mile from the Dollar General. She stopped at the store Monday morning looking for salt, with no luck.
“I have a steep driveway that the sun doesn’t hit,” she said, “so I guess the snow is going to be there for a while.”
